Dear Parents/ Caregivers,
Welcome to learning at home for Week 3 Term 4. Our learning at home tasks give you the flexibility to plan these into your day around other commitments.
This Week’s Story Time
This week our spotlight story is PJ Masks Saves the Library read by Mrs Virk
Bird Feeder
Need:
Peanut butter
Popsicle stick or knife
Bird Seed
Toilet paper or cardboard tube rolls
String
Using a popsicle stick or knife, cover the outside of your cardboard tube
Thread your piece of string through the tube, this is to hand your bird feeder
Roll the peanut butter covered tube in the bird seed until covered
Hang up where birds can enjoy
Paper Garden
Make your own vegetable or flower garden using paper. You will need some coloured paper or felts/crayons to colour your garden pieces
Which vegetable will you put - Carrots? Tomatoes? Beans?
How many rows will you make in your garden
Mud Pies & Mud Cakes
Have some fun outdoors with mud! Find yourself a container that you are allowed to use, put a couple of scoops of dirt in, add some water and mix it up to make some mud. Maybe you have an old mixing spoon you can use to mix your mud or find a stick to use
With your mud, what can you do…
Make a mud pie or cake
Decorate your mud cake
Make a ball of mud
Finger paint a picture
Squeeze some mud through your fingers
Sunshine Online provides access to a range of readers for your child. To access Sunshine Online for digital readers please visit http://www.sunshineonline.com.au/
In the top right corner of this website, select the red login button and in the dropdown select the option ‘Student Login’
User name: Puhinui
Password: Books2015
Enjoy reading books you have at home, remember to talk about the story. To assist with talking about the story, ask your child questions that start with who, what, where, why, when, how. Below are a selection of literacy activities to choose from for each day of the week
Please select the Reading Group for your child. Your teacher will have emailed this information to you.
When writing your stories remember what good writers do…
Extension:
Can you use ‘wow’ words in your story. ‘Wow’ words are more interesting words to use, for example, instead of using the word big you could say enormous
Can you use your capital letters and full stops to show each idea as a sentence. Remember we use a capital letter for the first word of the sentence. The other time we use a capital letter is when we are writing someone’s name.
What’s Happening at School?
The teachers looked out the window of Room 27 and look at what they saw
What type of truck is this big green truck?
What are the workers doing?
What do you think is being built?
Draw your own picture of the concrete truck delivering the concrete, write your story of what is happening
Next week we will tell you what it is going to be…
Tree Journal
Find a tree at a park or near your house, make sure you have a pencil, crayons, and a piece of paper or the tree journal page - available here Tree worksheet
Draw a picture of your tree and observe the tree
Do you see any birds or living things visiting your tree?
Do you notice anything strange about your tree, like a dead branch or new leaves?
What colour are the leaves, is your tree big or small?
Super Sports
What are some sports you know about? Soccer, rugby, running, swimming. Do you have a favourite? Choose one sport you enjoy doing and write about it
.Make a plan for your writing - it could be a picture or some key words
Tell us what your favourite sport is and give some reasons why it’s your favourite
Remember to read your story to yourself and then a parent or sibling when finished
Challenge: Can you use ‘wow’ words in your story. ‘Wow’ words are more interesting words to use, for example, instead of using the word good you could say amazing
Story - The Scariest Thing in the Garden
Watch this video and listen to the story The Scariest Thing in the Garden
Have you seen any of those mentioned in your garden, at the school garden or in a garden at the park? What are some other things you might have seen in your garden at home? Maybe some other insects or different vegetables or some fruit trees. Take a look at your garden and see what you find.
Draw a picture and write a story about something you found in your garden (or at a garden at the park/ school) and describe what it looked like.
Here is the beginning of Miss Lee’s story: In the school garden, I saw a scarecrow. It was wearing a pink jacket.
Remember to use your word card to help you sound out your words.
Once you have finished writing your story, read it to someone in your family.
Report Writing - Butterflies
Lets learn about the butterfly. We can write a report which includes fun facts about where it lives, what it looks like and its life cycle.
To help you plan and organise your facts about butterflies you can make a chart like this and record your information.
Go to this website here to find some cool facts about butterflies to help you with your writing report.
You can also watch these videos on butterflies to help you with your report - Fun Butterfly Facts and Butterflies. Remember you can watch it a second time and pause it so you can make notes in your chart.
Once you have all your information about butterflies, talk about what you have learnt with someone in your family. This will help you form your facts into sentences for your report. Think about the order you will write your facts.
Now you are ready to write your report. See if you can write something for each part of your chart. You may write your report in one day or over two days.
Draw a picture of a butterfly to go with your story.
Once you have finished, read it to someone in your family.
Extra:
Listen to the story of The Very Hungry Caterpillar, and see what happens to the caterpillar at the end.
This week our maths activities relate to Geometry - lots of learning and fun with shapes, describing them and using them in patterns
Shape Hunt
Explore and identify shapes in our environment and everyday life by going on a shape hunt around your house and outside.
Talk about what shapes you find and if you can take photos of the shapes you find. Or you could make your own poster or book of shapes you found in your house by drawing them and writing a statement e.g. My door is a rectangle.
Remember to give your shape book a front cover or a poster a title
Here are some shapes Miss Ashley found in her house
Pipe Cleaner Shapes
Make some shapes out of pipe cleaners. You can glue or tape on to a piece of paper and label your shape with its name and how many sides it has
Do you think you could challenge yourself to make a hexagon?
Check out this shapes song Shapes Song 2
Patterns with Triangles
Let’s make patterns in the shape of a rectangle using cut out triangles
You will need some triangles all the same size, you can make these whatever colour you would like. When you place two together they should form a rectangle
How many different patterns can you make with your triangles?
Shape Stamps
Using toilet paper rolls (or cut up some kitchen sponges), mould into different shapes such as a heart, rectangle, triangle, square or oval. Then dip into coloured paint and stamp on paper.
Try making pictures using your shape stamps.
Can you make a house, a robot or a tractor using your shape stamps?
If you don’t have any paint at home, try this homemade recipe.
Ingredients:
2 cups of salt
2 cups of hot water
2 cups of flour
Food colouring
Recipe:
In a large bowl, mix together the hot water and salt until as much of the salt dissolves as possible.
TIP: Dissolving the salt will help the paint have a less gritty tex
Stir in the flour and mix until completely blended.
3. Divide into containers and then add food colouring. Stir well
Note: Flour paint won’t keep for a long time. Store in the refrigerator for up to a week. Stir well before using again as the flour and water will separate.
Positional Words
Think about words that describe the position of things, for example
On
In
Under
Beside
Through
Above
Below
In front
Behind
Make little cards and on one side write the position word. On the other side draw a picture that shows what the word means. Show the picture side to the people in your family to see if they can work out what the position word is. These words are called prepositions
Here is an example of a picture for left, right and below
Shape Robot
With paper, cut and colour out some shapes and make a shape robot. How many different shapes can you use in your robot?
When you have finished show someone in your family and name all the shapes you used.
Extra for experts: describe where you put the shape.
Example: The robot has a rectangle mouth. The rectangle mouth is under the circle eyes and on top of the square.
Shapes with Marshmallows
Have fun making these shapes with small marshmallows and toothpicks or long pretzels. You can put the name of the shape next to it and how many sides it has. See if you can make a pentagon and a hexagon
Welcome to this week’s activities on our topic of Gardens - exploring tools you use in a garden, some things you can grow, compost and learn about the very cute and very tiny insect, the ladybug.
Potting a Plant and Gardening Tools
Watch the gardening video of Mrs. Borrie to learn some gardening techniques.
In the video Mrs. Borrie used some gardening tools to plant a flower. Now, can you remember what tools she used and how to use them. If you do, would you be able to draw them and label their names?
Read the description below and guess which gardening tool it is referring to.
__________________ it is used for breaking or digging up big holes
__________________ it is used to water the plants
__________________ it is used for loosening, lifting and turning over soil in your garden
__________________ it is used to grow seeds or young plants
__________________ It is used to add nutrients to the soil
__________________ It is used to protect your hands from germs
Gardening Scavenger Hunt
Gardens are full of interesting things! Go on a scavenger hunt and enjoy looking at all the different things you find. Tick each item when you have found it. If you have a tablet or camera, you could take a photo of what you have found.
Items to find:
▢ something prickly something furry something soft something hard
▢ a seed
▢ something green
▢ something red
▢ something yellow
▢ something man-made
▢ an interesting looking leaf
▢ a colourful stone
▢ an insect
▢ something unusual - write what it is here: _______________
Extra Challenge:
Find out the name of the plant that you found in the garden.
Find out the name of the insect
Do an observational drawing of something that you found.
Make a Ladybug Habitat
Did you know that ladybugs are beneficial to your garden? They eat the pests that would love to devour your plants, and are natural pest control. They are a great insect to welcome to your garden to observe. Check out some facts about ladybugs in this video. Here is how you can make a ladybug habitat.
Need:
Cardboard tube
Straws
Scissors
String
What to do:
Cut your straws to be the same length as your chosen cardboard tube, your straws do not want to be sticking out at the ends
Place your straws inside your tube, making sure there are enough straws that they sit tight and snug. Your tube needs to be full so they all stay in place
Attach your piece of string to your tube
Hang your ladybug habitat from a tree limb or near a plant
Observe your ladybug habitat over the week and see if you spot if any ladybugs have climbed in for safety. You could record how many you spot each day
Here’s a story about ladybugs. Once you have listened to the story, talk with someone about what you've learned about ladybugs. Make yourself a picture of a ladybug and label these body parts: 6 legs, shell, spots, head
If you need some help, here’s a labelled ladybug
Grow your own salad garden
The great thing about salad plants is that they are really easy to grow. They can be grown in the ground or in containers, as long as there is plenty of space for water to flow through. Another great thing about growing salad is, when you want to eat a salad, you cut off the leaves you want and the plant continues to grow.
What you will need:
Lettuce/Salad leaf seeds (any of your choosing)
A sunny spot
Soil with good drainage
A trowel or spade
What to do:
If you are using several different types of lettuce/salad leaf, plant each type in rows. You might want to design labels so you remember which type of leaf is in each area.
Place each seed about 1cm deep into the soil and lightly cover with soil.
Water the area well.
Water lightly once a day. The best time to do this is in the morning.
As the plants start to grow, you might need to do something called ‘thinning out’. This is where you pull out some of the little plants to leave the other plants room to grow.
When the leaves get to about 10 cm, you can start cutting them to eat.
You could take photos of the plants as they grow so you can look back and see your progress
Build a Micro Composter
What is compost?
Compost is made when biodegradable material - food scraps, grass cuttings, cardboard and straw - rots and decomposes. Rotting happens when our biodegradable waste is broken down by different organisms including: bacteria, fungi, worms and insects. The organisms use the waste as food and help to turn it into compost. When this process is complete, a brown crumbly mixture is left behind. It looks and smells like soil.
Composting is a natural process of death, decay, and re-birth. It is nature's way of recycling. Compost helps our plants to grow.
What you need
Empty 1.5 or 2 litre bottle (make sure it is transparent)Scissors
Raw food scraps (vegetable/fruit peel, tea bags, coffee grounds, raw leftovers, etc)
Soil
Water spray bottle or similar
Method
Remove the label and rinse your soda bottle. Cut the top off the bottle
Throw a handful of soil into the bottom of the bottle. Follow this with a handful of food scraps. Repeat this process until the bottle is full, finishing with a layer of soil. Once your bottle is full, spray the bottle with water till it is damp but it shouldn't be too wet
Place your composter in a sunny spot. When the soil on top dries out, spray with water to maintain a constant level of moisture.
Watch and wait as your food scraps decompose and turn to soil. You will need some patience - the whole process will take about eight weeks. Take photos of the bottle once a week so that you can compare changes that take place from week to week.
